 The Princes Trust
The Prince's Trust was set up by Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, in 1976. Its activities, still expanding, have enabled more than 400,000 14-30 year-olds to develop confidence, learn new skills, get into work and start businesses.
The Trust runs programmes throughout the UK. More than 10,000 volunteers and 800 salaried staff currently work for the Trust.
- The Prince's Trust Business programme offers business start-up advice and loans to 18-30
year-olds who have been unable to obtain traditional bank finance. On-going management and marketing support is available through a network of volunteer Business Mentors.
- The Prince's Trust Volunteers programme enables employed and unemployed 16-25 year-olds to work together gaining self-confidence and life-skills to improve their employment prospects. The courses also involve work for the benefit of local communities, bolstering individuals' social commitment.
- The Prince's Trust Developing programmes include The Prince's Trust XL Network, The Prince's Trust Sound Live programme, The Prince's Trust European programme, The Prince's Trust Group Millennium Awards and The Prince's Trust Development Awards.
The Prince's Trust bases its programmes on continuing research and development, aimed at providing a detailed understanding of the needs and issues affecting young people across the UK.
In 1972, when he was 23 and serving in the Royal Navy, Prince Charles set up a committee to consider how he could help 'alienated and disadvantaged' young people. Pilot schemes involved training, equipment and grants and the Prince felt that young people themselves should suggest the projects and help run them.
In June 1975, The Prince gave the first public information about his "experimental schemes" during a speech to the House of Lords.
"It is obvious that many young people - and particularly those who are often categorised as amongst the most impossible and the most difficult - are only too keen to become involved in useful or imaginative schemes, but they lack the funds or the necessary equipment," The Prince said. "Once an impetus has been provided, it is most heartening to see how it is continued and developed by the young people themselves."
The Prince's Trust was formally set up on 7th April, 1976. Following inner city riots in 1981, Prince Charles visited Brixton, south London, Toxteth, Liverpool, Southall, west London and Handsworth, Birmingham and grants were subsequently made to groups in these areas.
The Prince's Trust Business Programme was officially launched in 1982, with the aim of tackling unemployment - widely seen as one of the causes of the urban unrest - by helping individuals overcome barriers to starting their own businesses. Since then over 43,000 young people have set up their own businesses. These range from caterers to garden designers, from a computer games distributor to a pedigree ram bank for servicing ewes.
More than 43,000 businesses have been set up in conjunction with the Trust since 1983. More than 60 per cent of businesses are still trading into their third year. The top 50 businesses launched with the help of the Prince's Trust Business Programme have a combined annual turnover of £150m and employ 1,800 people. Half of those participants who's business ceases training go on to full-tim employment, further education or training.
The Prince's Trust Volunteers Programme began with residential camps at Caister, Norfolk in 1986. Musical workshops at the camps developed into the Sound Live Programme which offers training for 16-25 year-olds to enter the music profession.
On 12th November, 1998, The Prince of Wales launched The Prince's Trust/Camelot Foundation Leaving Care Initiative, a nationwide scheme aimed at supporting and advising young people leaving care.
The Prince said: "This scheme is a perfect example of what The Prince's Trust does - thinking the unthinkable, trying the untried and stepping in where others have stepped away."
In March, 1996 the Trust's various activities were unified as one body - The Prince's Trust.
In 1986, The Prince of Wales wrote in the foreword to his organisation's ten-year review: "My original hope was to help them [young people] recognise their own potential by encouraging them to use their talents and energies to pursue self-help projects, some of which might enable them to help others."
The Prince's Trust Web Site
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